On the Carribean coast during the rainy season (June-December) rivers and lagoons flood and fishing is impossible, so choosing a vacation to coincide with the dry season (February-May) is essential to success.

When the rivers clear, tarpon run into them and lay up, rolling quietly. They must be approached by silent poling or they may surface nervously but refuse to take a fly. But when they do go on the bite, the fights are spectacular--the 10- to 100-pound silver kings take the fly hard and leap alongside jungle banks, hitting with resounding splashes, and running deep into your backing. At least half break off or throw the hook, and there are days when your arms tire and you long for small bonefish for relief.

El Pascador has opened a new lodge on the Rio Grande near Punta Gorda, Belize. Ocean-flats tarpon are fished at Turneffe Atoll and Ambergris Cay.

The mangrove/grassflats ecosystem provides other challenges. Out there, small- to medium-size tarpon and pelicans slash into schools of baitfish emerging from the protection of the mangroves to feed. The tarpon attack a Cockroach or Deceiver savagely and jump and cartwheel, and unless the carefully sharpened hook is driven deeply into their jaw with a strong draw on the line hand, they throw it.

In the flats surrounding the mangrove islands, black sickles appear as permit tip to feed on crabs and the guide poles a 21-foot panga silently forward. A weedless #2-#4 Del's Merkin must be cast quietly just ahead and to the right or left of the feeding fish, letting it sink to bottom, then hopping it once. When he tips on it, you lift--pulling with your line hand to tighten and drive the hook home. A 9- or 10-weight rod and a quality reel with 200 yards of 30-pound backing serves well.

Farther out, along the grass flats inside the Sapodilla Cays, bonefish tail in schools, jacks dash here and there, and school permit feed upcurrent into the changing tides. It is possible there to catch many small bonefish and a permit or two during the right tide.

The snook, once the pride of the Punta Gorda coast, are returning with the other apex fish predators. In a few years this coast, much of it now protected by marine reserve and constant patrolling, will be another Belizean grand-slam mecca. The best fly-fishing guide on this coast is former commercial fisherman Scully Garbutt, who guides for El Pescador.

El Pescador/Punta Gorda, a new fly-fishing eco-travel lodge, was built last year in a 470-acre estancia on a hilltop above the Rio Grande, an hour flight south of Belize City and five miles by road from Punta Gorda village. The lodge looks westward across an expanse of rainforest and eastward to the mangrove flats. Its situation provides access to rivers, lagoons, and flats fishing for tarpon, snook, permit, and bonefish. The lodge also offers eco-tours on a variety of rivers and rainforest, kayaking, canoeing, snorkeling, manatee watching, and Mayan-ruin and cave tours.

The lodge has 12 modern air-conditioned cabanas with tiled floors and private baths, a freshwater swimming pool, and dramatic views. A semi-octagonal lodge with dining room serves Belizean and American cuisine, and a tram carries guests to and from boats moored on the Rio Grande 600 feet below the lodge.

Atolls & Cays
Atolls and cays are distinct geologic phenomena marking the long reef running from the Yucatan to Guatamala. Atolls have the best multi-species flats fishing outside of Florida, with the exception of the archipelago Jardenes de la Reina in Cuba. They are the best place to pursue tarpon, bonefish, and permit in a day of fishing. They are seldom bothered by the rainy season that affects the mainland, but in summer and fall they are sometimes hit by hurricanes.

In addition to the rods mentioned above, you should include the following in your gear to flats fish anywhere in the world: sunblock spf 45, amber-lense polarized glasses, fanny pack with water bottle, light-colored flats wading booties with hard bottoms, fishing cap with long, dark underbill. Bonefish flies for the Belizean atolls should include #12-14 Bonefish Bitters and #4-6 Gotchas, Amber Shrimp, Bonefish Specials, and Crazy Charlies. When fishing, match the color of the fly to the bottom color.